Networks will begin to air second-string

Published 6:30 am, Friday, December 28, 2007

Jay Leno, of NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, greets supporters of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and others on the picket line in front of Universal Studios in Universal City, Calif.

Jay Leno, of NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, greets supporters of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and others on the picket line in front of Universal Studios in Universal City, Calif.

Photo: RICHARD VOGEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Networks will begin to air second-string

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The full impact of the 7-week-old walkout by television and film writers is about to hit home for the American TV audience.

Since the strike by the Writers Guild of America against the major media conglomerates began on Nov. 1, the television networks have managed to keep up appearances of normalcy on their prime time schedules. Although the late-night talk shows immediately went dark, the most popular series — the ones that draw the big audiences and make the really big money for the networks — still had original episodes to show.

That will all change early next month as the most-watched dramas and comedies run out of fresh installments. Some — CBS's Two and a Half Men and NBC's Heroes and The Office — already have. ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives will air their final new episodes over the next two weeks. Fox's House is saving its final original hour for its slot behind Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3 and then it, too, will be gone.

As a result, the networks have been forced to fall back on winter-spring prime-time schedules that, for many viewers, will be an unappetizing melange of repeats, a few midseason replacement series, some recycled cable shows, news magazines — and a heavy dose of new and returning reality programming. (Reality shows in general are not covered by the WGA contract.)

Early 2008 schedules released by the networks this month include 27 hours a week of unscripted programming, up from 17 hours pre-strike and the most ever on network TV.

There will be Fox's The Moment of Truth, with contestants strapped to a lie detector, and When Women Rule the World, with male contestants trying to survive in an environment where women set the rules. There will be NBC's American Gladiator (a recycled, hyped-up version of a campy 1990s show) and The Baby Borrowers (teen couples "borrow" a tyke to test their parenting skills).

Big Brother — normally consigned to the summer doldrums — will air three times a week in what's being billed by CBS as a "very special" winter edition.

If the writers' strike continues into the early spring, the number of hours devoted to wife swappers, supernannys and survivors is only likely to increase.

Top network executives have tried to put the best spin possible on these diminished lineups — particularly when talking to advertisers and corporate investors. Fox executives love to point out, for example, that the network will still have the Super Bowl and a whole new season of American Idol, the most-watched show on TV.

"We are certainly not going to go dark," CBS CEO Leslie Moonves told investors earlier this month. "Ratings probably will not be as high without the influx of our great original programming. But, by the same token, costs will be down considerably" because reality shows are cheaper to make.

Still, executives who put together the schedules admit their lineups for early 2008 are far from what they had in mind. "It's a bit sobering to know that it's going to be a very different kind of spring than anyone would have liked," said Jeff Bader, executive vice-president of ABC's program scheduling and planning.

Both inside and outside the networks there is considerable concern that the television audience will not give the new lineups a warm reception. In particular, few believe that, outside of such established blockbusters as Fox's American Idol and ABC's Dancing With the Stars, the surge of reality shows will do much to keep viewers glued to their sets.

A recent report by the media research firm of Magna Global USA projects a 5 percent drop in network viewership in January and a 13 percent plunge if the strike lasts into the spring. Brad Adgate, an analyst with the New York ad company of Horizon Media, said recently in the Los Angeles Times that "you reach a saturation point with these reality shows. I'm just not sure how many more of them the networks can put on."

Even those scripted series that were scheduled for midseason have been affected by the strike.

Fox's 24 is on indefinite hold because only eight of the season's 24 hours have been finished. NBC's Medium — which returns Jan. 7 — got in only nine episodes before shutting down.

ABC's Lost will return Jan. 31 with eight episodes, not the 16 that had originally been scheduled for this season. "It will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down," said executive producer Carlton Cuse recently on tvguide.com.

"There is a mini-cliffhanger at the end of episode 8, but it's like the end of an exciting book chapter, it's not the end of the novel."

Even some of the fresh scripted material the networks will offer has the distinctive odor of desperation to it. ABC has new episodes of Cavemen and Carpoolers, two comedies that, in a normal season, would almost certainly have been canceled by now. Fox is running out hours of New Amsterdam — a new series about an immortal New York City police detective that it shut down weeks ago because of serious creative problems.

For viewers, cable will be an alternative in the short-term because its scripted series tend to work further in advance than those on the networks. In January, for example, USA will have new episodes of Monk, Sci Fi has new hours of Stargate Atlantis and HBO has full seasons of both The Wire and the new In Treatment.

But, if the strike persists, the cable well will start to run dry as well. And such popular cable shows as FX's The Shield, TNT's The Closer, Lifetime's Army Wives and USA's Burn Notice already have their seasons on hold until the writers return.

About the only good news for viewers is that a number of the late night shows — NBC's The Tonight Show and Late Night and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live — will resume next Wednesday. But hosts Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Kimmel will be working with one arm tied behind their backs because their writers are still on strike and some stars may be reluctant to cross picket lines to be guests on the shows. (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will be back on the air Jan. 7.)

"I'll do the best version of Late Night I can under the circumstances," said O'Brien in announcing his return. "Of course, my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments, it may very well be terrible."